


Canvas

by MathIsMagic



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine, Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine - Fandom
Genre: But I Love, FUCK DANZOU, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, I'm so bad at, MY BABIES, Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine Universe, and, so i did my best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 00:31:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18728020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MathIsMagic/pseuds/MathIsMagic
Summary: Sai would turn on Danzou for his teammates. He would die for them. He just didn't know they felt the same.





	Canvas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oceans_pebble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceans_pebble/gifts).



> MASSIVE thanks to AislingRoisin (JayBird345), for her help editing and revising. Seriously it feels like half of this is hers.

**Canvas**

  1. _Closely woven cloth used as a support for paintings._
  2. _A blank surface, especially one to be painted on._



 

* * *

 

 

It was him, or Shikako. And that was no real choice at all.

_“Sai, no-!”_

The sound of flesh tearing echoed in his ears, but he ignored it. There was pain, probably. But after years serving under Root, Sai was so very used to pain. Instead, the thing he noticed most was how quickly the colour seeped from the world as he fell. His vision faded till all he could see were shades of black and white., Like his drawings,  there was none of the vibrancy and colour of life.

The last thing he saw was Shikako’s face, before that too blurred into shapes and shadows. She was upset. Of course, she was. Even though he was a traitorous tool,  Shikako’s Will of Fire burned too strong for her not to care about her teammates.

It was one of the things that he loved about her.

After all, her affection for him was the only reason he remembered what love was.

Ever practical, Shikako made good use of his distraction, his sacrifice, and made the final blow against Danzou, before catching Sai in her arms as he collapsed.

Sai had held Shin in his arms when he had he died. It had been terrible, full of strange emotions that had threatened to choke the very life out of him. Looking at her tearing, frustrated face he could believe she was in as much pain now as he had been back then. Of course, there was no way that she felt the same way. There was no reason someone as real as her, a shinobi of the sun, would think of him as anything other than her comrade, at best. But even that little amount of love was so more than he had expected to experience since Shin’s death…  
  
It was nice to see her openly show how much his life meant to her. This way, he could pretend. He had always imagined that he would die alone, forgotten. Being held so carefully like this, he hoped that he had managed to make Shin feel the same way when he had died. Loved.

The last thing he thought, as his vision went black, was, _Shikako would be a great sister._

 

* * *

 

Sai opened his eyes.

That alone was a shock. He realized he felt warm and clean, that he was laying on something soft, and could hear the muffled bustle of people outside the room. .Such comforts and noises would never be allowed anywhere near his old quarters. This was clearly not Root.

 _Of course not. It couldn’t be_. Danzou had gone after Shikako and Sai had-

Sai’s eyes scanned the room as he lay on his back, his visibility slightly impaired by the position. He recognized the general aesthetics of the room, having helped Shikako escape from one just like it, once.  He was in a hospital room. But that made even less sense than waking up in Root, or Sai not being dead…

“Finally awake for real?” a familiar voice asked. Sai’s head snapped towards the sound. His head throbbed in pain at the sudden notion and made him dizzy. Startled, he had to blink his eyes a few times to confirm what he was seeing.

Shikako was sitting in the hospital bed next to him. She was hooked up to an IV and a few monitors, but she mostly looked more tired than injured. There was a stack of paperwork spread out across her bed; she had a clipboard in her lap and looked as if she had been writing studiously until this moment.

“You’re okay,” he croaked. He was surprised by the crack in his voice. The drugs must have dried out his throat, which added a tenor of emotion to his statement.

“You too,” she replied, stacking the paperwork up and pushing it away.

She turned to look at him fully. Her look was piercing, like she was about to scold him for being reckless. Sai was ready though. He had a thousand and one logical explanations for his actions; he had a lot of experience in justifying his decisions to unhappy authorities. Shikako had taught him that.

But she didn’t chastise him for his actions. Instead, she softly smiled and said, “Rule Number One: No Dying.”

She always was very good at reading people. Sai had been _sure_ he had kept his face blank, hiding his confusion. Yet somehow, she had understood his silence and started to explain.

“Rule Number One of Team Seven: No Dying. He’s gone now, so you’re a full member of the team, right? That means you have to abide by the rules and take care of yourself.”

Sai was alive. Danzou was gone. And Shikako was officially claiming him as part of the Team. Considering how close Team 7 was, that’s practically adopting him into the family. Distantly, he realized that there were things that he should be worrying about. Retribution from still-loyal Root nin, mistreatment from the Hokage, stepping into a world he’s never known, completely unprepared and alone- no. Not alone. With his team

There was moisture on Sai’s cheeks. He wondered if he was having an allergic reaction to something in the hospital. He’d never been treated in one before.

“You can’t die either, then,” he managed to retort. “Are _you_ okay?”

She groaned and rolled her eyes dramatically. The corners of Sai’s mouth quirked up.

“Ugh, yes. I’m just a bit chakra exhausted. I fixed everything else. But, you know Tsunade, she put our rooms together; she claimed I wouldn’t leave you until you woke up, and that once you woke up, you wouldn’t let me leave. She’s learned too much from treating Kakashi and knows how to keep us from running now. Devious woman.”

It was strange, not to feel terror at hearing his leader be insulted. Instead, Shikako chuckled, and Sai felt a warmth bloom in his chest.

They sat in silence for a few moments after that. It was surprisingly comfortable, at first. But slowly, Sai realized that confined to his bed, he had nothing to do but think. A lot had happened, and a lot would soon happen… and Sai didn’t want to think anymore about any of it. Thankfully, Shikako spoke up again before Sai’s thoughts were able to get too dark.

“Kiba came by. He left a stack of Manga for you. I _am_ allowed to move enough that I can get them for you. Or we could play cards or something. Please give me an excuse to do something other than paperwork,” she tacked on that last bit in a pleading voice that Sai couldn’t say no to.

“Whichever you would like.” It dawned on him, then, that this was Shikako, that Root was gone, and he was free to ask questions. “What is ‘playing cards’?” He knew what the word meant, of course, but Shikako had said the could ‘play’ cards. Sai only knew them as training tools, for his memory and his art.

“You don’t know any card games?” she asked with a frown.

Sai shook his head, suddenly nervous. She had only just claimed him as a teammate, and he didn’t want to let her down.

At least she didn’t seem angry when she responded, even though Sai thought her smile was a bit fake. She just seemed determined. “I’ll just have to teach you right now then. Playing card games is a very important skill for a Konoha Shinobi to have.”

Sai has been a Konoha Shinobi all his life, but somehow, when she said it, it felt different than being in Root. Brighter. Nodding his head in agreement, he was ready to give it his all to learn this new skill.

Hours later, with visitors coming in and out, joining his and Shikako’s games or introducing new games of their own, Sai realized he had stopped focusing on perfecting his skills. Instead, he had lost himself in having _fun_ with his teammate.

Sai felt warm, and drowsy, his evening meds kicking in and dragging him into unconsciousness.

The last thing he thought was that Shikako made a good sister.


End file.
